METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MIGRATE PHYSICAL SERVER HOSTS BETWEEN VIRTUAL STANDARD SWITCHES AND VIRTUAL DISTRIBUTED SWITCHES IN A NETWORK

• US 20190319837A1
• Filed: 04/16/2018
• Published: 10/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stoicov, Boris Dimitrov, Dickmann, Christian
• Granted Patent: US 11,012,297 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0897 by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by migrating entities, e.g. virtual resources or entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV

Abstract

An example apparatus to migrate a physical server host from a virtual standard switch to a virtual distributed switch includes: a user input interface to receive a user-selection of first physical network interface cards of a first physical server host to migrate from the virtual standard switch to the virtual distributed switch; a configurator to generate a first migration plan to configure the virtual distributed switch using network configuration settings of the virtual standard switch corresponding to the first physical network interface cards; and a virtual distributed switch creator to, based on a user-selection to proceed with the migration from the virtual standard switch to the virtual distributed switch, create the virtual distributed switch in the first physical server host and a second physical server host, the configurator to configure the network configuration settings of the virtual standard switch in the virtual distributed switch.

Claims

1. An apparatus to migrate a physical server host from a virtual standard switch to a virtual distributed switch, the apparatus comprising:

a user input interface to obtain a user-selection of first physical network interface cards of a first physical server host to migrate from the virtual standard switch to the virtual distributed switch;

a configurator to generate a first migration plan to configure the virtual distributed switch using network configuration settings of the virtual standard switch corresponding to the first physical network interface cards; and

a virtual distributed switch creator to, based on a user-selection to proceed with migration from the virtual standard switch to the virtual distributed switch, create the virtual distributed switch in the first physical server host and a second physical server host, the configurator to configure the network configuration settings of the virtual standard switch in the virtual distributed switch.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further including a port group creator to create a first port group in the virtual distributed switch based on the first migration plan, the first port group to include a first distributed virtual port in the first physical server host and a second distributed virtual port in the second physical server host, the first port group in the virtual distributed switch to match a second port group corresponding to the virtual standard switch.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the user input interface is to obtain user-provided network configuration settings corresponding to a user-selection of a second physical network interface card that is an unused physical network interface card not bound to the virtual standard switch, and the configurator is to configure the virtual distributed switch with the user-provided network configuration settings.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further including a graphical user interface generator to generate a migration selection graphical user interface, the user input interface to obtain a user-selection indicating a request to migrate the virtual standard switch to the virtual distributed switch.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the configurator is to:

determine that at least one of the first physical network interface cards corresponds to an infrastructure virtual machine;

access second network configuration settings of the at least one of the first physical network interface cards corresponding to the infrastructure virtual machine from the virtual standard switch; and

configure the second network configuration settings in the virtual distributed switch.

6. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further including a virtual standard switch detector to determine that a second physical network interface card selected to migrate to the virtual distributed switch correspond to a second virtual standard switch separate from the virtual standard switch, and the configurator is to access the network configuration settings of the virtual standard switch to configure the network configuration settings in the virtual distributed switch for the first physical network interface cards and the second physical network interface card when the network configuration settings are the same for the virtual standard switch and the second virtual standard switch.

7. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the configurator is to:

generate a second migration plan corresponding to the user-selection to proceed with the migration from the virtual standard switch to the virtual distributed switch, and

confirm that the second migration plan matches the first migration plan before the virtual distributed switch creator creates the virtual distributed switch.

8. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to at least:

obtain a user-selection of first physical network interface cards of a first physical server host to migrate from a virtual standard switch to a virtual distributed switch;

generate a first migration plan to configure the virtual distributed switch using network configuration settings of the virtual standard switch corresponding to the first physical network interface cards; and

based on a user-selection to proceed with migration from the virtual standard switch to the virtual distributed switch;

create the virtual distributed switch in the first physical server host and a second physical server host, and

configure the network configuration settings of the virtual standard switch in the virtual distributed switch.

9. The computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the instructions are further to cause the one or more processors to create a first port group in the virtual distributed switch based on the first migration plan, the first port group to include a first distributed virtual port in the first physical server host and a second distributed virtual port in the second physical server host, the first port group in the virtual distributed switch to match a second port group corresponding to the virtual standard switch.

10. The computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the instructions are further to cause the one or more processors to:

obtain user-provided network configuration settings corresponding to a user-selection of a second physical network interface card that is an unused physical network interface card not bound to the virtual standard switch; and

configure the virtual distributed switch with the user-provided network configuration settings.

11. The computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the instructions are further to cause the one or more processors to:

generate a migration selection graphical user interface; and

obtain a user-selection indicating a request to migrate the virtual standard switch to the virtual distributed switch.

12. The computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the instructions are further to cause the one or more processors to:

determine that at least one of the first physical network interface cards corresponds to an infrastructure virtual machine;

access second network configuration settings of the at least one of the first physical network interface cards corresponding to the infrastructure virtual machine from the virtual standard switch; and

configure the second network configuration settings in the virtual distributed switch.

13. The computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the instructions are further to cause the one or more processors to:

determine that a second physical network interface card selected to migrate to the virtual distributed switch corresponds to a second virtual standard switch separate from the virtual standard switch; and

access the network configuration settings of the virtual standard switch to configure the network configuration settings in the virtual distributed switch for the first physical network interface cards and the second physical network interface card when the network configuration settings are the same for the virtual standard switch and the second virtual standard switch.

14. The computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the instructions are further to cause the one or more processors to:

generate a second migration plan corresponding to the user-selection to proceed with the migration from the virtual standard switch to the virtual distributed switch; and

confirm that the second migration plan matches the first migration plan before the one or more processors create the virtual distributed switch.

15. A method to migrate a physical server host from a virtual standard switch to a virtual distributed switch, the method comprising:

obtaining a user-selection of first physical network interface cards of a first physical server host to migrate from the virtual standard switch to the virtual distributed switch;

generating a first migration plan to configure the virtual distributed switch using network configuration settings of the virtual standard switch corresponding to the first physical network interface cards; and

based on a user-selection to proceed with the migration plan migration from the virtual standard switch to the virtual distributed switch;

creating the virtual distributed switch in the first physical server host and a second physical server host, and

configuring the network configuration settings of the virtual standard switch in the virtual distributed switch.

16. The method as defined in claim 15, further including creating a first port group in the virtual distributed switch based on the first migration plan, the first port group to include a first distributed virtual port in the first physical server host and a second distributed virtual port in the second physical server host, the first port group in the virtual distributed switch to match a second port group corresponding to the virtual standard switch.

17. The method as defined in claim 15, further including:

obtaining user-provided network configuration settings corresponding to a user-selection of a second physical network interface card that is an unused physical network interface card not bound to the virtual standard switch; and

configuring the virtual distributed switch with the user-provided network configuration settings.

19. The method as defined in claim 15, further including:

determining that at least one of the first physical network interface cards corresponds to an infrastructure virtual machine;

accessing second network configuration settings of the at least one of the first physical network interface cards corresponding to the infrastructure virtual machine from the virtual standard switch; and

configuring the second network configuration settings in the virtual distributed switch.

20. The method as defined in claim 15, further including:

determining that a second physical network interface card selected to migrate to the virtual distributed switch corresponds to a second virtual standard switch separate from the virtual standard switch; and

accessing the network configuration settings of the virtual standard switch to configure the network configuration settings in the virtual distributed switch for the first physical network interface cards and the second physical network interface card when the network configuration settings are the same for the virtual standard switch and the second virtual standard switch.

21. The method as defined in claim 15, further including:

generating a second migration plan corresponding to the user-selection to proceed with the migration from the virtual standard switch to the virtual distributed switch; and

confirming that the second migration plan matches the first migration plan before the creating of the virtual distributed switch.

18. (canceled)

22-31. -31. (canceled)